Aunty Septic
by Grasspaw
Summary: When Apple Bloom hurts herself in the apple orchard, it's up to Big Macintosh to save the day. Of course, saving the day means putting 'aunty septic' on Apple Bloom's knee, and she's willing to resort to blackmail in order to keep that from happening.


**I'm back again! Here's some sibling fluff between my two favorie characters on the show. And yes, I wrote them as humans. I am terribly sorry, and I own nothing.**

Apple Bloom sat on the ground in the orchard, clutching her knee. Blood was seeping through the newest of several rips in her overalls - not a lot, but enough that it made her a little bit nervous. She hated blood. Not as much as Sweetie, of course, but she still hated it. Scootaloo would have claimed it was some sort of 'battle scar'.

She heard footsteps approaching and tried to cry more quietly. If she managed to walk home without anyone seeing her, she could maybe avoid putting that really painful, stinging aunty septic on it. She hated that stuff even more than blood. So if no one saw her, she could just put a Band-Aid on it and-

"Apple Bloom?" She winced. That was her brother's voice. Well, he was reasonable. Maybe she could still get away with just a Band-Aid.

"Hey, Big Macintosh," she said in a small voice. Maybe he wouldn't notice the blood at all! Then she could just get him to leave... somehow, and she could walk back to the house-

No good. He had just walked up to her and seen her clutching her knee. He didn't say anything, simply squatted down beside her and gently pried her hands away from the wound. He let out a low whistle.

"I'm gonna need that aunty septic, aren't I?"

"Eeyup." She stuck her lip out. It sometimes worked on AJ's boyfriend Caramel, even though AJ said he wasn't her boyfriend. But she and Big Macintosh both agreed that they at least liked each other a whole bunch. And Caramel said that when she pouted like that she just looked so cute that no one could resist her 'charms.' He and AJ had both laughed afterwards, which Apple Bloom didn't get. He had seemed pretty serious.

But Big Macintosh was just grinning. "Sorry, kiddo. Here, ah'll give ya a ride back." He picked her up effortlessly, and she clambered onto his back. He hooked his hands underneath her knees and started off at a slow walk.

"Um... Mackie, shouldn't ya try to go a little faster?" She wasn't entirely sure, but she thought she might bleed to death before they got to the house if he kept up the slow pace. She could tell he was smiling again around the ever present sprig of wheat.

"Nah, you'll be fine. It's me we gotta worry about; Granny's not gonna be too happy when she finds out ah slacked off a work for fifteen minutes."

"Sorry."

"'Tain't yer fault. It's heaps easier to carry you to the house than it is to pick apples." She wasn't really sure he was telling the truth, but she let it slide. She was nice like that.

Wait a minute...

Nice!

What was that word Granny had talked about a lot? Flat tree? That was two words, but whatever. Maybe it would work and she could convince Big Macintosh to let her get off with just a plain ole Band-Aid. That would be good.

"You've gotta be real strong if you can carry me so easily," she said cheerfully. It was true, at least; he was the strongest man she knew. Maybe even the strongest person, since she didn't think any girl could be stronger than him. "Hey, are you the strongest guy on earth?"

He chuckled deep in his throat. "Well, kiddo, I doubt it. But ya never know; ah might be."

"And yer smart, too, right? You've gotta be awful smart to keep track of everything around here." That was good. He was smart, or at least she thought he was. Smarter than AJ, anyways; she hadn't finished school. But Granny said that wasn't her fault; they had needed her on the farm.

"Nah, keeping track of everything around here's easy. It's keepin' track a _you_that's the problem." He reached around behind himself to tickle her, but she dodged his fingers.

"Hey!" she pouted. "That ain't fair! Yer not ticklish; I can't get back at ya."

"Sorry, Apple Bloom. Go ahead an' keep espousin' mah virtues."

"Do what now?"

He chuckled again. "Keep tellin' me how great ah am. Makes me feel right good about mahself."

"Oh! Well, let's see. You're strong, an' yer smart, an' yer funny when yer not tryin' to tickle people an' usin' big words that no one understands." He laughed aloud at that, which she thought was kind of rude.

"Eeyup."

"Hey, yer good lookin', too, right?" He almost stopped walking, and she assumed she had startled him.

"Well... That's a matter of opinion..."

"Diamond thinks yer pretty good lookin'."

"Does she now?" He sounded like he thought that was funny, but she didn't say anything about that.

"Yeah. She an' Silver both do. They giggle whenever they see ya."

"That's nice."

"I still gotta put on the aunty septic?"

"Eeyup."

Dang it. Flat tree wasn't working. Maybe some other tactic? She had a rather sneaky little idea about something she'd seen and heard last week. She hadn't told anyone because it would be mean, but maybe she could say she'd tell someone that if he made her put on the aunty septic.

"Know who else thinks yer good lookin'?"

"Who?" he said, still sounding like he thought something was funny. She grinned because he had no idea what she was gonna say.

"Yer lil Flu-Flu Bunny."

"Mah _what?"_He did stop walking now.

"Yer lil Flu-Flu Bunny," she repeated, grinning broadly. She could see his ears burning bright red against his thatch of strawberry blond hair. "Ya know, Fluttershy. Ya called her that last week when she came over to get some extra apples for her animals, an ya held her hand fer a minute and said some pretty yucky stuff, then ya called her yer lil Flu-Flu Bunny." She paused, giggling. He didn't start walking again, and she knew that his whole face had to be bright red by then. "And _then_ya kissed her on the cheek. And she got all pink and laughed and ran off. She even left the apples and had to come back for 'em a little while later, remember?"

"I remember," he said in a funny voice. "Apple Blood, did you tell anyone you saw that?"

"Nope."

"Good. Granny doesn't hold with dawdlin'."

"Or kissin'."

"We didn't kiss!" Big Macintosh muttered. "Not a real, proper-like kiss, leastways."

"Yer lips touched her cheek. That's a _kiss."_She suddenly thought of something. "Hey, how do you know what a proper-like kiss is anyway? Did you two ever really kiss."

"Nnnope."

"Don't lie to me! Ya did, dincha?"

Leaning around him so she could catch a glimpse of his face, she saw that he was as red as the apples on the trees they were walking by.

"Eeyup."

"Ew." She paused. He didn't say anything. Now was the perfect time to say she would tell someone! "Can I tell everyone?"

"What?" He sounded almost angry. Definitely annoyed.

"Yeah, can ah tell everyone that you an' Fluttershy love each other? 'Cause ya do, doncha?"

"Don't you go around spreadin' rumors now, ya hear?"

"But it ain't a rumor! You do love each other." She paused for dramatic effect. "But if you don't put aunty septic on mah knee ah won't tell no one nothin'."

He kept walking and didn't answer her. Then he said quietly, "Actually, Apple Bloom, most people already know that the two of us is courtin'."

"Nuh uh! They can't know, 'cause I woulda heard about it."

"Well we don't exactly kiss a lot in front of everyone, like some people," Big macintosh muttered. "But most everyone knows already."

"Oh," Apple Bloom said, disappointed. That wouldn't work then. "So you're still gonna make me put on that aunty septic."

"Eeyup."

She sighed. They had reached the house by now, and Big Macintosh opened the door. He set her down on the couch, then rifled through the cabinets until he found what he was looking for. He returned a moment later with a bandaid, aunty septic, and a wet washcloth, which he used to gently wipe the blood away.

"That hurts, Mackie!" she whimpered, batting his hands away. "Ah don't like it when ya hurt me. It ain't nice."

"Ah'm sorry, kiddo. But we gotta get it cleaned up." He gently moved her hands away and continued to clean the scrape. "How'd ya get this, anyways?"

"Ah fell out a the apple tree. Ah wanted a snack, so ah thought ah'd get one of 'em, but ah slipped. An' then ah broke mah whole durn leg." He smiled again.

"Don't think ya broke yer whole leg. Just scraped it up a good bit."

"A whole bunch."

"A whole bunch. Ya ready?" He held up the aunty septic, and she nodded, biting her lip. "All righty then." He suirted some of it on his finger, then smeared it across her knee.

"OW!" Intead of answering her or trying to make her feel better, he leaned forward and gently blew on it. "Thanks, Mackie."

"Welcome." He placed the bandaid over it, then stood. Sit still fer a bit 'fore ya try walkin' around."

"Thanks again." He smiled at her, then walked toward the door. "Hey, Mackie?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you and Fluttershy gonna get married?"

He gave her a slow grin, chuckled again, and walked out the door.


End file.
